


My Safe Haven

by nerdguy3000



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Adorable FitzSimmons (Agents of SHIELD), Containment Pod, F/M, Fitz is a good dad, Growing Up, Jemma is a good mother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-09-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26574433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdguy3000/pseuds/nerdguy3000
Summary: As she grows up, the Containment Module becomes a safe place for Alya. she decorates it, and whenever she feels down, she has a place to go.Based on my tweet on @fitzlegs
Relationships: Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Comments: 4
Kudos: 44





	My Safe Haven

Due to fears that their past would follow them, Fitzsimmons decided to have a containment pod in their back garden. Not for them of course, they were more than capable of holding their own in a fight. Around their house were various gadgets that could incapacitate anyone stupid enough to try something. No, the containment modules (disguised as a regular shed), was to protect the most important thing to them in any universe, Alya. Over the years, it had become a safe haven for the girl, it was filled with blankets and a multitude of stuffed monkeys that have been collected over the years. In one corner a stack of books on genetics and science, in another, all the bedtime stories that her parents had ever read to her. There was a supply of emergency supplies, but it had been hidden by a tartan blanket so as not to ruin the mood. A string of fairy lights if hung from the ceiling, casting off a soft glow and making it feel cozy.

Endless nights spent, hiding out storms as the thunder is quieter in the pod than it is in the cottage. Winter afternoons, cups of hot chocolate, and her dad's soothing voice reading from The Polar Express as snow begins to carpet the world outside. Her mum showing her how to design her own fish and telling her not to tell her dad. Her Aunt Daisy sharing stories of her parents from when they were younger, all the way from space.

But now a 16-year-old Alya lies on the bed, tears streaming silently down her face, angsty teenage music playing in the background. That’s how Fitz finds her, he’d known something was off when she ignored him as she arrived home from school, dropping her bag on the floor and walking straight outside to the ‘shed’. Jemma was away, May had asked her to give a few lectures at the Academy last week, and she would currently be on a flight back to Scotland. It was up to him to help her, which didn’t worry him but always preferred it when he had Jemma with him. She always knew the right thing to say. He grabbed some tissues, Irn Bru and her favourite chocolate then headed out.

She didn’t react to the sound of the door opening but Fitz could tell that she knew he was there. The music was talking about some breakup and getting over it. Fitz didn’t pay much attention to it, focusing on his daughter.

“d’You want to talk about it?”

Alya shook her head, dislodging more tears from her eyes.

“Okay, I’m just going to read in the corner.”

Fitz sat down, his knees creaking, picked up the nearest book, the first of the His Dark Materials books, and began to read to himself. He kept one eye on his daughter as she processed her emotions, ready for her the moment she needed him. After about an hour, Alya got up off the bed, pulling her long, white hair back into a loose ponytail, and walked over to her dad. He set the book aside as she lay down next to him and rested a head on his leg.

“It’s Quinn, they said that they didn’t want to be with someone who always did better than them in class. I just don’t get it Dad, I loved them and I thought they loved me.”

“What’s not to love?”

“I wish I wasn’t smart.” Tears began to erupt from Alya as sobs wracked her body.

“Hey no, none of that.” Fitz handed a tissue to his daughter, “Never apologize for being the smartest person in the room. You are the most amazing person I know, and you have so much love to give. Sometimes people can’t handle that. But that means they don’t deserve you. Quinn didn’t deserve you, okay, if they can’t love all of you then that’s their problem. Me and your mum will always be here. You’ll always be my little monkey!”

As her dad spoke the crying began to subside, and she huffed a laugh at his last comment. They lay there for several long moments, Fitz gently rubbing her back, he pulled one of the blankets over her and began reading from the beginning of the book again.

“Lyra and her dæmon moved through the darkening hall…”

A few hours later when Jemma arrived home, noticing that her husband and daughter were missing, headed outside to find them. She opened the door to find them curled up, the book lying on the floor between Fitz's legs. She smiled and headed back inside to get some sleep.

* * *

She had been working in the office that Fitz had organized upstairs for her when she heard the shouting coming from downstairs. She headed out and stood at the top of the stairs, listening to what was happening.

“You can’t stop me!” She heard her daughter shout.

“Oh yes, I can, young lady. I’m not having you run off to S.H.I.E.L.D!” ah this old argument. It was a common one, she knew Fitz was just trying to protect Alya, but he didn’t always choose the right words.

“But that’s exactly what you and mum did! Daisy is always telling me amazing stories of all the stuff you did with your team!”

“She has filled your head with utter nonsense! It wasn’t the way she tells it in the stories! You are too young and too immature!”

“Dad, I’m older than you were when you first joined! And everyone is always telling me how grown up I am!”

Jemma began to silently descend the stairs. She should probably step in before it went too far.

“YOU ARE NOT READY, I DON’T-“

“UGHHH DAD YOU’RE SUCH A HYPOCRITE!”

With that the back door opened and slammed shut, rattling through the cottage.

“- want to lose you.” Jemma heard Fitz whisper to himself.

He looked up sharply as he heard the kitchen door open and tensed as Jemma walked in.

“Jemma, I-“

“I understand, but she has to make her own decisions.” Leaving her husband to mull over her words she headed out to the pod.

Opening the door Jemma saw Alya, sitting on the edge of the bed, angrily reading one of the biochemistry books, which she was very impressed by, she hadn’t known it was possible to be that angry while reading. Jemma closed the door and sat down next to her. She could feel the frustration brewing in her daughter and just placed a gentle hand on her leg.

“I just don’t get why he treats me like a little girl. I’m 18, I can do what I want with my life.” Alya looks up at her mum, tears forming in her eyes, “I just want to make you proud.”

Jemma smiles gently at the shining ray of light that is her daughter. She brings a hand up and wipes away the tears from Alya’s eyes, she then cups her daughter’s cheeks and lifts her head so she can look her in the eyes.

“My beautiful girl, no matter what you do we would be proud of you.”

“It doesn’t seem dad feels the same,” Alya said dejectedly, looking down at her hand. She felt like she had let him down in some way.

“Your father thinks you are the brightest star in the sky but joining S.H.I.E.L.D is dangerous. I’ve made no secret of the fact that both me and your dad were put in so much danger.” Jemma puts a hand over her daughters, “Alya, I’ve told you, your father did lose his life. And both of us ended up in so much danger. He just wants you to be safe.”

“But mum, you helped people, you saved lives. I want that. When I get to your age, I want to know that the world is a safer place because of what I’ve done.”

Jemma looked at her daughter and for a moment, didn’t see Alya, she saw pure light, a person filled with so much love that all she wanted was to protect people and make her parents proud. It brought a tear to her eye.

“You never cease to amaze me, now tell me about something you’ve been reading about.”

Unbeknownst to them, Fitz had been watching his girls. He knew it was probably wrong, but he felt so bad for what he’d said and wanted to know how he could fix it. His heart broke when Alya said she didn’t think he would be proud of her. As the conversation descended into biochemistry, Fitz realized what he had to do. He dropped a quick message to two people and when they responded quickly, he set up the table for a video call.

“Hey Turbo, it’s been a while.”

“Fitz, it’s good to see you again.”

The faces of May and Mack looked back out at him, and he took a deep breath.

“I know this is unconventional and probably wrong but Alya wants to join S.H.I.E.L.D and I just need to know she’ll be safe. I hoped she’d never want to be she just wants to be like her parents and I’m not sure I can do this and oh god…”

He took a deep breath as his emotions overwhelmed him. When he looked back at the tablet screen, he saw two smirking faces looking back at him.

“Fitz, Alya has had a place here since the moment it was set up,” May started, “she’ll receive the best training and you know I’ll push her to be the best she can. She has so much potential.”

“You know I can’t promise anything Turbo, but that girl has a heart of gold. She is exactly what we need here, I can see both you and Jemma in her, she will flourish here. You gotta let her man, we will look out for her as best we can, though I would say that any team is gonna have a hard time recruiting her after Daisy hears her little star is going to become a SHIELD agent.”

Fitz smirked briefly hearing the nickname that Daisy had picked for Alya, it was fitting. Taking a deep breath, he nodded, it was going to be okay.

“There are further conversations to be had but I need to go and apologize, I’ll let you get back to your work.” With a nod he signed off and headed to the kitchen, a home-cooked meal wouldn’t fix everything, but it was a good place to start.

* * *

It was her last day at home, tomorrow she would board a plane and head off to American where she would start her training to become a SHIELD agent. As expected, as soon as Daisy heard her niece was going to become an agent, she had earmarked her for her team on Zephyr 3, she had even planned a restock for the final few months of Alya’s training. As much as it scared her, Alya couldn’t wait until she was back in the stars.

She was sat on the floor on some pillows, with a blanket over her legs. Looking around, her whole life was in this pod, from the original monkey toys from Enoch and her parents, to her primary school pictures, her PHD certificates sat next to baby photos. Next to her, she had gathered all the family photo albums she could find, she pulled one onto her lap at the same time the door opened. Looking up she saw both her parents poke their heads in. They both smiled when they saw her sitting with their old photos, they exchanged a look and after a silent conversation, they entered and sat either side of her. Alya smiled at the sight and hoped she would be close enough to someone one day to have complete conversations through one look.

Jemma pulled the album onto her own lap and turned to her daughter, “we had come to find you for dinner, but I think its times for some more stories.”

Alya smiled, they always knew what she needed, she would miss that so much.

“I think she’s heard them all now,” Fitz smirked as he ruffled her hair that was now cut into a pixie cut.

“I want to hear about the old team.”

A phrase they had heard many times before, but it always made them smile.

So, Jemma started, right at the beginning. A picture she had taken of Fitz in the bus’s lab, then the picture from Peru while they told the story of their first official mission, a picture of her Auntie Daisy on the bus, then a picture of Fitz with cream on his face, another picture of them when they were back at the academy.

They ended up moving quickly past all the Hydra takeover, tonight was time for fun and stories, the first pictures of Mack prompted Fitz into the story of when they first met, all the video games they played together, so many stories were told of Hunter and Bobbi, who often dropped in to see Alya and spoiled just as much as the rest of the team. Stories of Daisy finding herself were slightly dramatized to keep the evening light.

Then they spoke about Lincoln, who they had told Alya about so she fully understood the risks but also she would remember a great man. Jemma spoke about the heroic acts of her father to protect her and Alya felt her dad's arm tighten around her. And finding Yo-Yo and Daisy making her team, again they brushed past the incident with Hive.

They spoke about how SHIELD changed, and they spent months falling in love while falling into their new roles. Pictures of the many flats they looked at but never ended up moving into any of them. There were many pictures that her parents took of each other, just lying in bed or out on dates. It was beautiful that they still looked at each other with the same adoration.

There were very few pictures of their time in space but they still spoke about it, finding Deke, they still hadn’t told Alya that Deke was their grandchild because they weren’t sure if that was something they should say. Jemma took great delight in telling Alya about Fitz dramatic entrance and his look as well as stories of the first version of her uncle Enoch. They told the beautiful story of their wedding but moved on quickly and brushed past the rest of that year.

They told their individual stories of spaces and the adventures they had apart and together in space. The story that lead them to space and the story of her name.

And finally, Jemma told the story of the past and how they saved the entire world and their world one last time.

By the end they were exhausted and ended up falling asleep on the surprisingly comfortable floor of the containment pod. Early in the morning, Alya woke up, her mum and dad had managed to get cuddled next to each other. So, quietly she got herself up and made for the door, today would be a busy day. At the door, she turned around and took one final look around the place that had kept her safe for so many years, and finally, her gaze rested on her parents.

“Thank you.”

**Author's Note:**

> All feedback appreciated!


End file.
